Latitude Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 414 Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST)

Latitude Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 414 shares of the retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 372.3% during the 4th quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Safeguard Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $208,000. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Costco Wholesale during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,052,000. Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,356 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $3,616,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Costco Wholesale by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,126 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $4,044,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Costco Wholesale

In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Costco Wholesale news, Director W Craig Jelinek sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $685.93, for a total transaction of $5,487,440.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 216,212 shares in the company, valued at $148,306,297.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Yoram Rubanenko sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $680.33, for a total value of $1,700,825.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,020,750.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,442 shares of company stock valued at $9,303,768. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Costco Wholesale Price Performance

NASDAQ:COST traded up $1.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $717.04. 178,959 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,084,806. The firm has a market cap of $318.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 0.77. Costco Wholesale Co. has a 52 week low of $476.75 and a 52 week high of $787.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $730.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $658.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The retailer reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $58.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.11 billion. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 28.80% and a net margin of 2.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 15.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Costco Wholesale Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.16 per share. This is a positive change from Costco Wholesale’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 25th. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on COST shares. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $680.00 target price on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Costco Wholesale from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Gordon Haskett downgraded Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $775.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $795.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on Costco Wholesale from $601.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $691.28.

About Costco Wholesale

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the operation of membership warehouses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. The company offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories.